The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Information Unit holds her annual seminar in Abuja. The theme of this year’s seminar is, “Leadership Challenges in the 21st Century”. The seminar according to the chairman of the association, Comrade Adeniyi Emmanuel Adekunle is meant to sensitize members about the challenges of leadership as election is by the corner. “As some of our members will be going for election, is good we tell them how to go about it so that they will be told who to vote for and who not to vote for, ant the reasons for such decision.
On the issue of mortgage for members of the association, the chairman said he had studied the problems workers go through after retirement and decided to introduce cheap and affordable housing scheme for the union. In the scheme, the association will partner with Galecity Limited to provide affordable plots of land ASCSN members and also cheap inputs like cement, while union members will build at their own pace. He said the arrangement is to prevent the suffering civil servants face after disengagement, as most of them may not be able to afford rent with their meager pension.
Comrade Obi Obioma Jacob, a past chairman of the association said the theme for this year’s seminar is quite suitable as members are supposed to be informed of what to do during the election. “By right every comrade is supposed leader, therefore every worker has to belong to a union of his choice as the 29 trade unions in the country have been democratized”, he said. He informed our reporter that membership into ASCSN is restricted to employees on level seven and above. Speaking about the partnership with Galecity, Comrade Jacob posited that ASCSN did a thorough investigation before choosing Galecity. One of the criteria being that the company is currently building 500units of houses for Bauchi State government, which will be given to workers in the state on completion.
Members of ASCSN can acquire the land by making 24 installment payments to Galecity. Comrade Obi said that once a member is able to make four installmental payment, such member can become a part owner and begin to erect his house while continuing with payment for the plot of land. The ASCSN estate is at Karu, a satellite town in FCT. A plot of land will attract a minimum of three hundred and fifty thousand naira only (N350, 000.00).
The MD/CEO of Galecity, Frankin O. Ajayi, a former investment banker said his organization is trying to avoid the exploitation workers go through in mortgage arrangement, where a customer is meant to be a slave of the mortgage institution for decades, paying exploitative interest. He said the estate can accommodate about 3,500 units of one bedroom flats. He corroborated Comrade Obi Obioma by maintaining that an employee can start building after just four deductions from the person’s salary.
Galecity Limited is at Metro Plaza, and has been into real estate development for quite some time. The Bauchi State Project is one of their high profile projects that has received commendations.
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